Considering that so much of the Trump vote came from the rust belt states, among those people most impacted by globalisation and free trade deals I feel the answer would be the Liberals.

As the party who has championed the TTP, seen over 1,000,000 Australian jobs being taken by 457 visa holders, pulled the rug out from under the car industry, lifted migration levels to unprecedented levels, engaged in 'jobs for the boys' to an even greater extent I wager the LNP would be feeling the most threatened if this groundswell reached higher than Pauline.

In a very real sense Trump has done an Abbott. He worked negativity into a winning strategy. The only saving grace we had was the ability to force Abbott out of the leadership after a couple of years. The Yanks are stuck with Trump for four but he has broken a deadlock in the US federal politics which had paralyised the country. I can't see him being elected a second term but who knows.

We indeed live in interesting times.

Hi Steele,

From an Australian Government perspective, Clinton would have been preferable as she seemed to be far more amenable, and more likely to maintain the status quo than Trump. The new fearless leader claims to be an isolationist both on economic and military matters. The Donald will come under immense pressure from both the American military-industrial complex and international capitalism should he attempt to implement policies which are counter productive to their existing vested interests.

It was pathetic to see both Bishop and Turnbull doing a "Yoho...Donald...don't forget us little people, we are your friends too...kissy kissy!

Should see some major sucking up from both of them shortly.

Dear Paul1405,

Come on mate, surely there is part of you who is a little bit excited about the breaking of the hold the media and Wall Street had over US politics. If isolationist means looking after your own citizens rather than the profits of the multi-corporations then bring it on.

I'm not as naive to think Trump means half of what he says but hell, he has ripped the scab off the cesspit of money driven politics and hopefully it will be pretty hard to put that genie back in the bottle for a very long time.

The Robs Sinodinos's and the Brandis's should hopefully be feeling a little less comfortable right now. Of course the Bolts of this world will be madly spinning it into a vote against political correctness or some such guff but it won't stick. The ordinary Joe Blow has spoken and good on em I say. Let's hope we have people here who are prepared to listen.

Hi Steele.

I understand what you are saying, and agree, as does Pauline Hanson, gee us two agreeing with the lovely Pauline, amazing. I am some what skeptical about claims of the people have spoken, and democracy is the winner, the people are back in control once more, were they ever in control?
A lot of what Trump was saying was for mass consumption, and it may be a different story when the real game is played out. Interesting times are ahead.

They wont care if Trump kicks some minorities butt Mexicans, Muslims Afro's. They will let him do that, but interfere with big business, now that would not be tolerated.

Steely, talk about only seeing what you want to see.

You started out OK, but can't actually admit the truth even to yourself.

Agreed, TPP & 457 are a bad mistake, but Labor are as strong on TPP as anyone.

On migration, Labor is much worse than the libs, who got the boats to their peak, but the greens are totally ridiculous.

The car industry, come on mate. Just like the UK it was union action, forcing ridiculous wages for unskilled process workers that wrecked that industry. Tony had the guts to say no more taxpayer rip off, thank god.

Jobs for the boys. If you scratch any quango it runs pink blood. The left is the champion of useless jobs for academics & hangers on. Gillian Triggs any one?

I agree the US needed a circuit breaker to clean out Democrat corruption, headed by Hillary & Obama, but I doubt Trump will do much better than Tony was doing.

Hope I'm wrong there, & hope it helps us get rid of the semi left twit we have in the lodge.

I think the left & crooks were the big losers, & Labor should be the most frightened. A quick look at Qld's Labor lot should really frighten the horses.

Unless we get our own big mouthed knight on a white charger arise, come on back Tony, the left have their tails between their legs, time to cut them down to size.

Dear Hasbeen,

I've actually rewritten my reply to you. As much as I do enjoy exchanging broadsides I feel it is worth keeping the gunports lowered for a bit to tease this out.

Of course we are going to have different takes on what happened but in some ways our world views have a few things in common.

My first observation is your comment about the car industry could just as well have been made by an American car executive. Let's leave aside the fact the German auto workers are paid 50% more than their Yank counterparts yet manage to produce twice the amount of cars. Ultimately it was the non-university educated white voters in the rust belt states who have been most hit by globalisation and free trade that ended up delivering a Trump victory. Keep in mind that for the most part Trump didn't get many more votes than Romney it is just where he got them that was important.

The closure of plants in SA, NSW and Victoria are already creating areas that resemble rust belt cities in the US and it is going to get a whole lot worse. The same demographic isn't suddenly going to find employment in IT despite Malcolm's enthusiasm, especially when base level jobs in that sector are so easily exported. Just look at Telstra call centers.

Now to elitism and jobs for the boys. I'm afraid painting either party as worse than the other just isn't going to wash. There was nothing more elitist than Abbott awarding an Australian Knighthood to Prince Phillip full stop. It rightly got him into a world of trouble though he never really understood why.

And look at Brandis' efforts before the last election. Let's just take a single example, his appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal which were made on the last working day before the election was announced. These roles paid up to $300,000 per year and ranged from 5 to 7 years.

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